A Promise In His Past
by fringeperson
Summary: He was made for her, but they could not stay together, and she told him to find someone else, and to hold on tight when he found her. Her final words to him haunt his memory as his life goes on and the world changes around him... I don't own any one here
1. Chapter 1

**A Promise In His Past**

**Chapter 1**

"Where is she? Where's my grandchild! I have a present for her!" the tall gentleman cried as he burst into the room. He didn't quite look old enough to be a grandfather – there wasn't a grey hair on his head yet, though there were a couple of wrinkles on his face from smiling so much.

"She isn't here yet," answered a woman from her place in a rocking chair beside the fireplace. She wasn't yet thirty-two but a pair of glasses already kept her nose company as she worked on her embroidery, using her bulging stomach to rest the work on. Putting down the work, taking off her glasses, and brushing a few errant red-hairs out of her face, the soon-to-be mother rocked out of the chair to welcome her father properly.

"I know the doctor said she was due today," she began, embracing the dark-haired figure that had once bounced her upon his knee. "But I never honestly believed any child of mine would be on time, even for her first ever birthday."

Returning the hug and letting go of his daughter, the older man sagged a little.

"I did so want for them to start their lives in this world on the same day," he said quietly, removing the gift from his pocket. "I put my whole heart into making him, just for her. I do hope she will like him."

"Oh Papa," she said, taking the doll gently in her hands. "You can't give this to a baby, she'd chew on his ears and bang him against everything in sight. No, he's too precious," she insisted, staring from the doll to her father and back again.

"Oh, I suppose you're right, Susan, but I made him just for your little girl." The aging man insisted upon this, even through his disappointment.

"What did you make?" another man asked, putting down the shopping in the hallway.

"A doll, just for my grandchild, and she isn't here to receive him yet."

"I think I have an answer," Susan said, handing the figurine to her husband when he came to peek. "Since he's such a fine doll, you keep him safe, and when our little girl is old enough to appreciate him and be careful with him, we'll unite them, is that alright with you Papa?"

'_Maybe even keep him hidden, so that until that day, the two of them don't even know about each other,'_ the old man thought, a romantic at heart. He agreed, and took the doll back. "But what am I to call him? I wanted the baby here when we chose the name," he said, his hand already on the doorknob.

"You made him, Papa, with all your heart, you said, you name him."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A week later, the child was born. Her eyes were like forget-me-nots, her hair a few curly wisps of fine strands; no one certain what colour it would be when there would be enough to cover her whole head. The name she was given, as her mother lay holding her in the hospital bed, was Louise Emily. If her grandmother had still been alive, she would have cried for joy to have her first grandchild named after her, but the war had seen to it that the sweet woman would never even see her own daughter's second birthday.

The years past and the girl continued in her habits of being late to almost everything, often hiding her blushes behind her now thick gold hair.

Every birthday that came by, the proud grandfather would ask his daughter if Louise was old enough _yet_, only to be told that she wasn't. Sighing, he would return to his house on the hill and talk to the doll he had made for the girl. He had long taken to calling the doll Baron, short for Baron Humbert von Gikkingken – named after his own grandfather, though the title was an addition.

"The child is such a sweet thing, Baron. Why, just the other day she fed the last of her favourite crackers to a kitten in the street. She says the kitten talked to her. The girl is truly adorable. I am only sorry that Susan persists that she is not yet old enough to meet you. I don't know when she will be, but I suppose that we can only be patient."

A knocking interrupted the old man's quiet chat with the figure that rested upon his table. Sighing, he apologised to the Baron for the interruption and slipped him into a drawer, locking the figurine inside, just in case it was that self-same darling child come to visit him.

"Coming," he called. Opening the door, he found himself confronted with Susan in tears and Louise in toe. "Whatever is the matter my dear?" he asked, ushering them both into his living room, motioning them to take a seat by the fire.

"He's gone, Papa. The doctor said it was a brain aneurism," the distraught redhead sobbed, clinging to her father as if she were afraid that he, too, might leave her.

"Oh, Susan, there now, Papa's here, and so is Louise. Don't cry my dear, please don't cry," he said, rubbing a hand up and down his child's back the way he had when she was small and crying over a broken toy or skinned knee.

"We've been kicked out of the apartment, because we can't pay the rent as well as for the funeral," she confessed, still clinging to her father, her rock: the one constant in her life. He had always been there for her.

"I understand," he said, helping her to the couch beside Louise. "You are both welcome here for as long as you like. It will be nice to have some women in the house again," the old man said, ruffling Louise's hair as he gently pulled his daughter away from his shoulder.

"Thank you Papa," Susan said, wiping her tears away as she sniffed her relief.

They stayed for two months, just long enough for Susan to get her life in order again, finding a better job so that she could support herself and her daughter on her own. Needless to say, they left again, though they didn't go far. Susan found a small house for sale just down the hill from her father's house, and had bought it as quickly as she could.

Life went on normally, and continued to do so until Louise turned sixteen. Susan and her grandfather had, by now, agreed that the Baron would be a sweet-sixteen present for the angel-light in their lives.

"She will love you, I know she will. If I'm any judge, Baron, I think you will be smitten with her too. She may need a –" he paused to be diplomatic about his grandchild "- _few_ more dancing lessons, but otherwise she's just about the perfect lady," the old man said. Grey hairs now dominated his head, where once it had been a fine black mop. He had insisted that Louise be taught all those lady-like things that seemed so outdated in the world now, and Susan had agreed, remembering how much she had enjoyed learning from her father when she was young. Perhaps some things were a little out-dated, but that simply made them more novel, and Louise hadn't minded either when she was told. She loved her grandfather very much, and enjoyed spending time with him as much as she did with her best friend Alexis.

"Grandfather?" A voice called from the door.

"Oh! Just a moment, Louise dear," the old man called. He had forgotten that it was her day for "lady lessons" as they had become termed. Quickly he hid the Baron and went to greet his darling.

"I see you came straight from school," he said, raising an eyebrow at the short skirt that was her uniform.

Louise blushed, she knew what he thought about the length, but there wasn't anything she could really do about it. Normally, she stopped home long enough to change before coming, but that day had just been a bit … rushed.

"Yes Grandfather, I'm sorry, but a friend needed to get away quickly, so I took her turn for tidy today," she explained. Saying that her friend had to get away to watch her crush play cricket would be a bad idea. To say that she had to get away quickly might suggest that she had a family emergency, or a doctor's appointment, and she still wouldn't be exactly lying to her grandfather when she said it.

"Well, helping others is good manners, so I suppose I can forgive you," he said, a smile pulling all the old man's wrinkles into place, he was joking with her, of course he forgave her. "I even have a birthday present for you, my dear. He's been waiting a long time to meet you."

Louise could only cock her head and look confused. Her grandfather thoroughly disapproved of her meeting young men, though if this person had been waiting to meet her for a long time, perhaps he was not so young. Everything was resolved, however, when he removed the doll from the drawer and presented him.

"I finished him on the day that you were due to be born, but you were late, and your mother suggested that we should wait until you were old enough to appreciate him before we gave him to you. I put my whole heart into him, my greatest gift to my most precious grand-daughter," he said, kissing Louise lightly on her forehead.

"Oh, Grandfather, he's wonderful!"

"Your mother said that I should name him, all those years ago, so I Baron Humbert von Gikkingken, but of course, he is yours, so you may give him another name if you prefer."

"I couldn't think of a better name for this fine gentleman than the name he was given by my grandfather," she said, her forget-me-not eyes gleaming with potential tears, she was so happy.

The Baron had orange hair, green eyes, and was clean-shaven rather than wearing a fashionable moustache, allowing the easy smile upon his face to shine.

He wore a suit of the palest lavender-grey, a colour that was popular among the gentlemen at the university. The Baron also wore a vest of deep red and a shirt of cream with a blue bow tie. He carried a cane and wore a top hat, these last two items marking him as an older gentleman to Louise, as such accessories were avoided by persons in her own age group, looked upon as too stiff and formal. Of course, no one she knew cared for bow ties much either, all preferring the easier necktie that was so much easier to take off for a game of cricket.

The slightly more old-fashioned name suited him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Louise grew up, treasuring the doll that her grandfather had made just for her, until the war came. Her sweetheart went to fight, and when he came back without an eye, she married him, declaring that she was one of the lucky ones, to get her sweetheart back at all.

Of course, she had lost her mother and grandfather: they had been visiting together, and a bomb had landed on the house on the hill. It almost broke her heart that she had to sell the gentleman doll to pay for a funeral for them. Nevertheless, she did, knowing that her heart would break even more if she couldn't see them properly buried, and be able to visit their graves for advice on her life when she needed them there to support her.

Among the treasures of the museum that had bought him, the Baron was quickly lost and forgotten, but something peculiar happened…

"You're in the wrong place, my friend," said a bird that had lighted on the windowsill of the back room where the Baron was slowly gathering dust.

A small flash of light came over the rook's shoulder and hit the gentleman's green eyes. If he had been a living man rather than a porcelain one, it would have been perfectly normal that he would blink against the sudden light. That he did despite being fired clay rather than flesh and bone was particularly peculiar.

"I know, but my lady sold me so that she could pay for two funerals," the gentleman answered, taking the handkerchief from his breast pocket and dusting himself off.

"Come with me, I know where you can belong," the large black bird said, making a turning hop such as are widely practiced among so many birds. The movement put the black feathered back within easy reach of the gentleman, who jumped on.

They had been flying together for almost an hour before they began to descend. Peering down, the Baron stared. It was so far, so incredibly far to fall. As much as he had enjoyed the flight, he was just as glad to be on solid ground when the bird landed.

"Welcome to my sanctuary," the bird said, looking down slightly at the gentleman. "It is not often I find someone who belongs here, and so many of them are wood that they slowly rot away over the years. The roofs of so many of these houses need to be proofed more soundly against the rain," the crow explained absently, walking over to a house of a cheerful yellow with fine green trimming and a lovely white picket fence.

"I think that you will find this one suitable, however," the bird added, opening one side of the double doors for the gentleman to enter in.

Inside was rather bare, but it was dry, and there were neither spider webs nor dust.

"I know five houses that will shortly be getting rid of doll houses, between them we ought to find you comfortable fittings for your new home," the crow said, slightly apologetic for the bare house. "There is also furniture and wall paper and so on in the other houses, in varying stages of disrepair from water damage, but a little work and it should be alright. At the moment there is only you and I here," he continued, his black eyes appearing sad as he said that.

"Where are my manners? I should have introduced myself when we met! I am Toto, a crow of stone." The bird bowed elegantly.

"I am Baron Humbert von Gikkingken, it is a pleasure to meet you, Toto," the gentleman replied, removing his hat and sweeping into a low bow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Excuse me? Please forgive the intrusion, but I was told that I might find help here…" a cat called softly as she padded through the arch of the sanctuary. It was as if she both did, and did not, wish to be heard as she made her quiet plea for help.

The Baron, never one to let a call for help go unanswered, left his task of applying wallpaper to talk to the cat.

"How may I help you?" he asked, bowing genteelly before her.

"Well, you see, when I was a kitten, a sweet child called Louise saved me from starving on the streets by feeding me the last of her crackers, but now she's in terrible danger. She has been kidnapped by the mother of my sweetheart to become his bride… it's fearfully complicated, but please, if she remains unaided, she may never be able to return home, a cat forever…" the cat nearly burst into tears. "It may already be too late," she added.

The Baron handed her his handkerchief and waited patiently for her to stop crying before he spoke.

"I'll do what I can, if you will be my guide," he said.

"Oh, thank you!" the cat cried out, her tears forgotten as she turned. "On my back, it's quicker," she said, ignoring any thoughts of impropriety that sprung to the Baron's mind, forcing him to also forget with the urgency of her tone… The name had also not been lost on him: Louise. He recalled, a long time ago, being told that Louise had done just that, and saying also that she could speak to cats.

Her sweetheart had died, a flying brick had claimed him the day after their son had turned four. Of course, he was away in the country, where all the children had been sent. Her only comfort was that, because her husband had been a soldier, his funeral was paid for.

She hadn't even thought when she scooped the cat out of the way of the water cart. Every animal was needed for keeping the rats down, and that it was wearing a gold collar only suggested to her that she might get something from the owner for saving their precious puss.

Louise had not expected it to stand on its hind legs and say, in a very cultured voice. "Thank you very much, now if you will excuse me, I do not mean to be rude, but my mother will be wondering where I am. I would like to thank you properly, but it shall have to be at another time."

Louise had, out of habit, bobbed a little curtsy to him. In wonder she watched him pick up a little box between his teeth – she hadn't noticed that before – and bowed once more before going around the corner.

She had certainly not expected to be woken later by a collection of cats announcing that she had saved their prince, and to thank her intended to make her his bride. It was so unexpected, in fact, that she had gone along with it, believing it to be a dream. A few hours later, however, she became very aware that it was not.

The prince was arguing with his mother that he was already engaged, and that they should return the lady Louise home at once. It was at this point that the Baron arrived on the back of the prince's sweetheart.

"Miss Louise?" he asked, bowing to take her hand. If he had not been warned, he would have taken great shock to see that Louise had turned almost completely into a cat – with fine white fur and sapphire eyes and a long, thick tail.

"Baron?" she asked, surprise and a touch of uncertainty knitting her brow. She took his hand all the same.

"I have been asked to escort you home," he said, helping her up.

"Oh good. I don't like the idea of walking the London streets alone any more. Apparently, we go out by the tower," she added, pointing.

Together they slipped up the tower steps while the prince and his sweetheart talked to the queen about what was going on. It was nearly dawn when they reached the open landing more than halfway up the tower, and Louise barely made it out in time. The Baron, they were both sad to see, did not get to keep his human appearance, having come out as the sun was just leaving the horizon behind.

Still, he walked his old owner home, and they shared tea. Tears brought the visit to an end. Louise was unable to look at the Baron, so many painful memories were connected with him, and now, because of her she felt, he was no longer even the way her grandfather had made him. With aching hearts, they parted.

Louise asked only one thing of the Baron as he left her doorstep, and her life, forever: "Promise me, Baron, that you will find someone. Grandfather made you for me, but you have a life of your own now. Find someone, and when you have found her, don't ever, ever, let her go."

"I promise, Miss Louise," he said, bowing one last time as he disappeared from her life.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"How did it go, Baron?" Toto asked, flying down from his perch when he saw the silhouette of his friend approaching the arch of the sanctuary.

"Miss Louise has returned to her life, however sad it may be for her right now, and for her, all is as it should be. I, on the other hand, am not the man that I used to be," the Baron said, stepping into the light and removing his hat before opening the door of his home.

"Quite literally I see. It seems that your disapproval of facial hair must be blown to the four winds my friend," the crow said, poking his head through the door so that the conversation could continue.

"So it would seem, though I still dislike large moustaches, they look so untidy, and the small ones covered in oil so often make a person look as though they are up to something underhanded," sighing, the now feline gentleman put his hat, cane and tailcoat aside. He still had wallpaper to put up.

After that day, when someone found their way to him for help, he would welcome them to the Cat Bureau, feeling the sting of the title. He helped others, forgetting about himself as he did.

One cat came to the Bureau claiming the need for work and a place to stay. The Baron had discussed the matter with Toto, since it was the bird that had brought him to the sanctuary all those years ago, and they had agreed that the cat could stay with them. In exchange, he would be alert for any creation that had lost its home as the Baron had, or anyone who simply needed help.

So many years had past, the Baron had all but forgotten about Louise – he had received a portrait of her as a cat from the king, all those years, so many, many years ago. Surely generations had come and gone in the time he had been waiting.

The cat found another to do his job, and passed away. This happened four times, and in all that time, only one creation was found – a wooden man. He didn't need them though, his creator had set him comfortably beneath a tree with a tent, a fireplace and something he called a "billy" to cook his tea in, and a "matilda" in which he carried all his belongings. The old man was comfortable, so none of them insisted upon his joining them at the sanctuary. He said that he wasn't one for houses and paved courtyards anyway, that he preferred to go to sleep beneath the stars.

In the long, empty hours, the Baron had taken to practicing with his gift. It was light that he first saw when he woke truly that first time, when Toto had found him, and so it was light that he was gifted in. He was able to create a wonder of light, a blaze, a spectacular show of light with just the smallest glimmer and some glass. It was not long before he was able to flood the sanctuary with light with the merest ray of sunset and barely a thought, but he had to be able to see the light he was working with, or it didn't work.

He would have liked the opportunity to try his hand at cricket, but without the obligatory twenty-two men (eleven to a side), it was rather tiresome trying. Batting against a wall, bowling at the same wall and leaping into the air to catch the imaginary batsman out, it felt so lonely, knowing that it was supposed to be a team sport. Some days he would ask Toto to take him to the library, and he would spend hours reading. He completed a bachelor of art history by mail and filled his shelves with novels he had copied – by hand – from the library. His handwriting much like that of the printed books, as he had never been taught to write, merely learning from what he read, and of course, he experimented with tea.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Dreams of Louise's last words to him haunted his sleep; _"Promise me… don't ever, ever let them go…"_

A large cat slammed the letterbox shut, waking him. Looking through the window, beyond the rustle of the newspaper, the Baron saw that someone had come, someone with a plea for help. She was going to be taken to the cat kingdom, and did not, it seemed, want to be taken.

_Louise_…

Troublesome and painful though the memories were, there was time to entertain: the girl had not yet been taken, after all, and it wasn't often that he had someone new to perform for.

"Enough Baron, turn it off! No one's impressed with your cheesy light show!" the fat cat, Muta, said. He was hiding from the intense focus of light behind the paper. The fellow had never thought anything of showing off, for any reason. Of course, if anyone tried to point out that Muta himself showed off sometimes, he huffed and insulted in denial.

"Good evening, welcome to the Bureau."

"Wow, you're cool."

Events spiralled out from there. They attempted to linger over tea, and later, when he knew that he should not have, he made the dance last for as long as he could. He remembered the last time that he had come to the cat kingdom, it had been merely a fleeting visit when he was young and did not know who he was, but it had changed him forever.

He could only hope that the kitten in his arms would not be forever changed as he had been… she did not deserve such sadness.

"How can we exit? The tower collapsed," in such a short time so much had happened. Lune had proposed to Yuki, Muta turned out to be a wanted criminal, and the King was truly crazed – but the exit was still there, Haru could still make it in time.

"_Promise me, Baron… don't ever, ever let go…"_

"I'll get her to the exit!" Muta said, grabbing the kittenish girl by her school uniform, spinning around a couple of times before launching her into the air. She landed almost halfway up. The large cat congratulated himself on the throw.

"Fight like a cat, you chicken!" the mad king had proven his insanity by climbing the outside of the tower to challenge the Baron, who had been running the spiral staircase after Haru, determined that he had to keep her safe.

Then she screamed. The king was defeated but still Haru screamed. He had to save her. Muta was already going to her aid, but that wasn't the point; _he_ had to take care of her. He had told Miss Haru that he would help her, and he would not be caught shirking in this duty.

"Baron, gimme a hand here," Muta said, he was straining to keep Haru from falling to her death as Haru had returned to human size, and she now once more towered over him, rather than the other way about.

With each of them taking a hand of the young lady, the managed at last to pull her up to the rim, and she took a seat there, crying in exhaustion, for Haru had not slept well the night before, and she had not been granted any sleep this night. A feline nature had been forced upon her, she had been able to shuck it yes, but now she faced falling to her death.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Where's that bird-brain when you need him?" Muta demanded, searching the skies all around them.

"You could always go back to the Cat Kingdom Muta, Lune would probably grant you pardon for your crimes," Baron suggested, adding to himself _considering you helped the girl who saved the two lives most precious to him – his own, and that of Yuki, his bride. You, Muta, could return to the Cat Kingdom and live happily until your days come to an end._

"Nah. He wouldn't want the rebellion that would come with pardoning me," Muta mumbled, curling up on a part of the tower-top not taken by Haru, who was still clinging to it for all that she was worth.

"Miss Haru?" Lune called from beneath them.

Haru shifted very carefully, still clinging to the tower, but now the opening was clear for the cat prince to come out.

"Here, we found a parachute for you," he said, passing her a bundle with straps for her back and a pull strip.

"Thank you so much Lune," Haru said, taking it from him.

"Call it my thank you, a better one than my father's."

They all agreed that this was a fine proposition, and the prince slipped back down the tower while the Baron and Muta helped Haru put the package on her back and secure it around her middle.

"Time to jump," the fat cat said when everything had been double-checked. Looking down past the clouds below them, they all admitted to themselves that those three little words were unwelcome. However true they may be.

Haru pulled the tab of the parachute just as the Baron spotted Toto, and as she went up for a moment on the first draught caught by the canopy, the Baron let go, and kept going down until he landed to the giant crow's back. He knew that she would be safer if she did not have to hold onto him as well as Muta, but he could not deny the way he felt when she screamed as his hand slipped through her fingers.

"…_don't ever, ever, let them go…"_

"Don't ever, ever do that to me again, Baron. I was so scared for you," said Haru. She and Muta had landed safely on the sports field at Haru's school, Toto and Baron landing shortly after – they had stopped by the Bureau to collect Haru's school bag, which had been left there when the cats had first kidnapped her.

The terrified fury left her face as the Baron jumped the short distance from Toto's back to the ground. The crow had hovered a moment while she had taken her bag from his beak, and she had been unable to see the Baron then, but now she could, and she didn't know what to think. Surprise and wonder filled her eyes as she looked at him, stared at him. Muta turned to see what she was staring at, and stared too, even Toto stared. He hadn't noticed before what Haru was seeing now.

Baron realised at last the cause of their surprise: he was human again, or as human as he had ever been. The whiskers, fur, ears and tail were all gone. It had been so long since the time he had not had a tail, he could barely remember what he looked like without fur. Toto had long forgotten that the porcelain doll had ever had anything by feline features, and neither Haru nor Muta had ever seen him without them.

He sighed. It was over, life as a cat had come to an end, but now he didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

"Baron," it was Haru. She was kneeling on the grass in front of him. "I hope you don't mind, but I think I have a crush on you," she said. "Even when you had whiskers, I think I had a little crush on you," the girl added with a smile, wanting to make sure that the figurine knew that it wasn't just because he was a man now.

"_Promise me, Baron, that you will find someone. Grandfather made you for me, but you have a life of your own now. Find someone, and when you have found her, don't ever, ever, let her go."_

"_I promise."_

The porcelain man wept salty tears into Haru's knee until she wrapped her arms around him, cradling him against her chest where he continued to cry.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Something in the world shifted. Haru was still kneeling, holding the Baron as he wept over memories against her chest, but now he was kneeling too. He was bending slightly to rest on her shoulder. She no longer held all of him in her arms, but could only reach around the gentleman's broad shoulders and stroke his back, as her mother did for her when she was crying.

Toto and Muta noticed at once, of course, they had watched the whole thing, but Haru noticed the change before the Baron did. Looking around her, Haru realised what had happened and took hold of the man's shoulders.

"I think we don't have to worry about goodbyes," she said, looing up into his green eyes again, gently wiping a tear off his cheek.

"Do you mind if I never want to let you go?" asked the Baron, smiling through the dampness. He didn't wait for her answer, but as soon as the smile began to creep onto her face as well, he kissed her.

"I don't mind," Haru answered when their lips came apart again.


End file.
